Up until a few years ago, the only way you really got a virus by surfing the internet was if you were accessing ‘suspect websites’. This isn’t the case anymore. There are thousands of legitimate websites out there that are being hacked on a daily basis. They are being used as instruments to put viruses on innocent bi-standers like you and I. All you have to do is simply visit an infected website and within minutes your computer could be completely frozen and rendered unusable.

Computer armed with the best computer freezes virus antivirus sotware are still not %100 percent protected. No matter how much money you spend on the latest and greatest virus protection software, there are still viruses that can somehow find a way around it.

Even The Best Computer Freezes Virus Antivirus Software Will Not Stop All Viruses

There are three rules of thumb that I have lived by for the past many years when it comes to keeping my computer virus free and I am going to share them with you. They might seem a bit crude and may not be ‘politically correct’ in computer terms, but here they are.

1. You Must Have A Reputable Antivirus/Internet Security Installed -  Good computer freezes virus antivirus software protection is going to run you about forty to sixty dollars. I would personally recommend Norton Internet Security. It has been a leader in this field forever and is constantly being updated.

>>Get Norton Internet Security Here<<

2. Get To Know What Malwarebytes Is And Use It Regularly – Malwarebytes is by far the best computer freezes antivirus software removal tool made today. I have personally recovered hundreds of computers with this software as it can remove about %99 percent of all spyware/malware. Malwarebytes can be downloaded and used for free, but if your budget allows, I would recommend purchasing the full version. This gives you real-time protection against spyware and malware.

>>Download Malwarebytes Here For Free<<

3. Don’t Ever Click On A Security Pop-Up Window – There are thousands of viruses that are installed by accident because a user will get a pop-up stating that they have 10 security alerts that have been found and need to be removed. Don’t EVER click on these. If you do not know what to do, just shut your computer down. After you reboot then run your computer freezes virus antivirus software.

If you are an avid internet user, then take my advise and follow these three rules. If you adhere to them and surf the internet carefully, you should never really even need to use your computer freezes virus antivirus software programs.

In a lot of cases, hard drives just don’t stop working all together. The drives can tend to just degrade over a period of time. This will result in a real decrease in computer performance and eventually it could lead to computer freezes.

Over the years, I have seen computer freezes caused by failing hard drives in laptops more than desktop computers. The reason for this is that laptop hardware is just inferior to that of most desktop computers.  Manufacturers like Dell, HP, Sony and Acer are always trying to push the envelope by making laptop hardware components smaller and smaller, but smaller components usually leads to higher failure rates.

Computer Freezes Are Hard On Your Computer’s Hard Drive

Being able to recognize symptoms of a failing hard drive is not hard as long as you know what you should be looking for. Here is a quick list of symptoms that may be caused by a failing hard drive:

• Computer freezes up frequently
• Notice major decrease in computer performance
• Programs take forever to open as well as saving files
• You can hear a loud clicking noise coming from the hard drive

If you notice any of the above symptoms happening on your computer, then it may be a good idea for you to make sure your data is backed up. Back in the day, people would normally spend a few hundred dollars on an external hard drive and then backup their data to that drive. This method is really inefficient and what would happen if something happened to that drive. You would lose all of your data.

Laptops Are More Vulnerable To Computer Freezes

There has been huge growth in online backup over the past couple of years. It literally is changing the way computers and laptops are being backed up. The popular services out there today like Mozy Pro are extremely reliable and very inexpensive. You can try Mozy Pro for free and see if you like it. I highly recommend it. God forbid if your house were to burn down or something very bad happen that destroyed your computer. If this were the case, you would still have all of that important data such as all of your financial data or family pictures backed up online.

Let’s move on to what you need to do in order to diagnose a bad hard drive. If you have a newer computer that is under warranty, then you may want to contact their technical support and have them work with you so you do not void your warranty.
The first thing I normally check to see if the hard drive is bad is to check the System event view to see if there are any alerts for Disk. You can access the computer’s event viewer by doing this:

• Go to Start > Run
• Type eventvwr
• Click Ok

You will want to open the System event log and check for any Alerts with a Source of Disk. If you find some, then it is a pretty safe bet that you have a hard drive that is failing.

If you do not see any errors in your computer’s event log then I would recommend downloading a program called WD Diags. This is diagnostics program that was developed by the hard drive manufacturer Western Digital. This utility works with most name brand hard drives on the market today. I would just download and install the windows version and then run a Quick Test on your hard drive.

Computer Freezes Can Cause The Computer Registry To Become Corrupt

If the quick test brings back a result of Failed, then I would take measures to get a replacement hard drive. If the test passes, then it is a pretty safe bet that the drive is in working condition and that there may be something else like low memory or spyware that may be slowing your computer down.

Never get burned losing your data because of a bad hard drive. Always be alert and looks for symptoms such as computer freezes or even ticking noises coming from your hard drive.

Over the past few years, the number one cause for computer freezing is because of spyware or malware infecting the computer have problems. I have spent countless hours working on computers that have been infected not only in my day job, but for neighbors, friends and family.

It used to be that you have to be surfing the web and going to ‘suspect’ websites or sites that weren’t trusted in order to have a chance to be infected with spyware or malware which would result in computer freezing issues. But in today’s world, you can be visiting a very legit website and your computer could become infected causing computer freezing. I have actually witnessed it happening to my wife’s computer while she was visiting the local newspapers website.

For a person who is reading this post, you should find yourself at least in one of these positions or possibly both. Either you are currently experiencing computer freezing or you are looking for the best way to protect yourself against it. Let’s take a deeper look into both.

Prevent Computer Freezing By Having Surfing Smarts

The number one best defense against having your computer get infected by spyware or malware is an educated and alert user. Surfing the internet is more of a way of life for just about everyone now days, but the key is to remain alert and always be extra cautious of what websites you are visiting. Here is a quick list of things to keep in the back of your mind:

1. Be very careful when opening emails. If you don’t recognize instantly who the email is from, then I suggest you don’t open it. Just delete it.
2. If your surfing the web and you get a pop up saying anything in the order of ‘Your computer is infected, please click here to fix it’  you need to instantly either shutdown your computer or go into task manager and end the task of your internet browser. This is probably the number one way computer freezing starts because some of these pop ups look so legit that people will click on them without thinking twice. Don’t let that person be you!
3. Just be very cautious about what websites you visit. If something sounds weird or out of the ordinary, then just don’t go to that website.

Prevent Computer Freezing By Having A Shield Of Protection.

In my expert opinion, I truly believe that there is no one piece of software on the market today that will simply prevent computer freezing by protecting against all viruses, malware or spyware. It seems that no matter what software is being used, there is always a way for malicious software to get by it.

However, everyone and I mean everyone should have protection software on their computer. It is an absolute must. Yes, it may be a pain in the butt having it prompt you at times and yes, it may cost you a few dollars to purchase the software, but it is a much better solution than paying your local computer guy a few hundred bucks every time your computer gets infected causing computer freezing and all other kinds of issues.

If you do not have any kind of virus/spyware/malware protection software on your computer, then I would recommend you get some ASAP. Trust me, you will regret it if you don’t. I would highly recommend NORTON 360. It should cover in just about every facet. It will prevent computer freezing by protecting against viruses, spyware, malware and any other malicious software that tries to manipulate your computer in any way. You can check it out by Clicking Here.

How To Stop Computer Freezing Effectively.

So maybe your one of those readers who thought you really never needed protection software or doesn’t really need to worry about computer freezing caused by careless web surfing and now you are experiencing computer freezing because your computer has a virus or some malicious software installed. Your not invincible after all!

I would care to guess that if this is the case, then your computer may boot up but it probably doesn’t function well at all and eventually computer freezing occurs. Or, computer freezing may not even be happening because it is not even booting. Let’s hope that isn’t the case!

The number one best chance you have to fix this problem is to use a piece of software called Malwarebytes. This software has fixed more computers for me over the years than any other piece of software. If you think your computer freezing issues were caused by spyware/malware or malicious software, then Malwarebytes is the number one way to get rid of it in my book. You can download it by Clicking Here. This is by far the best software on the planet to fix computer freezing caused by spyware or malware.

Just a quick tip, if your computer freezing issues are prohibiting you from downloading any of this software, then you may need to boot into ‘Safe Mode With Networking’ in order to be able to have enough functionality to download an run any of the programs I have recommended.

You can access ‘Safe Mode With Networking’ by turning on your computer and hitting the F8 key as soon as it turns on. You will get a menu that allows you to select different boot options. Computer freezing is greatly minimized when using either ‘Safe Mode’ or ‘Safe Mode With Networking’.

This has been a long post, but it has some awesome tips in it. I am confident that if you follow the suggestions in this post, that you will almost eliminate the chance of having computer freezing caused by viruses, spyware or malware. Don’t let computer freezing ruin your day or week, stop it before it even has a chance to.

When your computer screen freezes, it could be caused by any number of things. Here is a list of just a few things that could cause computer screen freezes:

• Out of date driver
• Corrupt registry file
• Corrupt operating system file
• Hardware that could be failing
• Virus, spyware or malware

Computer Screen Freezes Should Be Fixed With Proper Troubleshooting Steps

If you are exerpiencing frequent random computer screen freezes, I would recommend scanning your computer for spyware/malware. There may be a trojan that got installed while visiting a website. This single trojan could cause for random computer freezes. The best tool to fix these kinds of problems is a program called Malwarebytes. You can download it Here. Be sure to update it first before running a Quick Scan. Remove any entries it finds and then reboot.

Test Your Computer To See If The Computer Screen Freezes Come Back

If your computer freezes up even after running Malwarebytes, then you may want to think about checking your hardware drivers. So many times over the years, I have found that either out-of-date video drivers or corrupt video drivers can cause computer screen freezes. I would recommend either updating your drivers by finding out which exact video card you have and then checking the manufacturers website to see if you have the latest version.

Software Drivers Are What Make Computer Hardware Work With Your Computer

If you are uncomfortable doing that, then I would recommend using a piece of software such as DriverScanner2010. This software is basically a ‘set and forget’ piece of software. It will check your drivers and make sure they are up to  date according to the Operating System you are using.

If all of your drivers are up to date and you are still having computer screen freezes, then I would lean towards trying to fix your computers registry. Even if your computer is only 6 months old, it’s registry has probably got numerous entries that do not need to be there. A computer registry will expand and become unorganized over time. Since this is the most important piece of any operating system, it is important to keep the registry clean.

The job of fixing computer screen freezes by cleaning the registry should be done by a high quality piece of software. I highly recommend the Microsoft Gold Certified software called RegistryBooster2010. It will not only stop computer screen freezes, it will also help to optimize and speed up your computer.

In conclusion, if you are experiencing computer screen freezes, then I would recommend scanning for spyware/malware, make sur e your drivers are up to date and cleaning your computer’s registry. Doing these three things should fix most computer screen freezes.

Please don’t misunderstand me. Not everyone has an extra $20 or $30 dollars  in their budget to be buying a piece of top rated PC repair software. In this case, I would recommend that you take a few things into consideration. More than likely, you originally invested quite a bit of money in your computer so you want to make sure that you are getting the most out of it. If you take your computer to a professional to have it looked at, you will pay hundreds of dollars to get it fixed. So in the end, you may want to pinch a few pennies and buy some PC Repair Software that will not only fix any of the problems you are having now, but also work to eliminate having those problems in the future.

There is only one company that makes PC repair software that I would recommend you purchase, and it is made by a company called Uniblue. The first thing that stands out to me is that they are a Microsoft Gold Certified Company. Microsoft doesn’t just hand this certification out to anyone. A company has to meet very high standards and Uniblue most certainly does that. Let me give you a quick run-down of their PC repair software and give you a few details about each one of them.

Feel free to click the links below to download and try these PC Repair Software programs for Free!

• Registry Booster 2010 – If your computer is over 6 months old, then I know if does not run as fast as it did when you first bought it. This is partly because the computer’s registry is in need of being cleaned up and defragmented. This PC repair software will do this very effectively. It will also help to fix any random, weird popup errors you might be getting when using certain programs. I have also found Registry Booster 2010 to be very effective at fixing computer freezes and blue screens.

>>Click Here To Download And Try Registry Booster 2010<<

• Driver Scanner 2010 – Making sure your computer has the most up to date software drivers is very important. Not only so your getting the most out of your hardware components, but also because out-dated drivers can cause a lot of problems such as computer freezes, computer freezes on startup or just random computer crashes. Driver Scanner 2010 does all of the dirty work for you. It will save you hours of time and frustration by making sure your hardware components have the latest and safest drivers installed.

>>Click Here To Download And Try Driver Scanner 2010<<

• SpeedUpMyPC 2010 – This is truly one of my favorite pieces of PC Repair Software. Not only is the interface very cool looking, it provides you with awesome information and can tweak out just about any system to run at its maximum potential. I think just about all of us would like our computers to start faster, have faster internet, shutdown faster, have more hard drive space, have optimal memory settings and have our programs start and run faster. SpeedUpMyPC 2010 does the job. I know because I use it on all of my personal computers. Give it a try and I am willing to bet that you will find it to be as good as I do.

>>Click Here To Download And Try SpeedUpMyPC 2010<<

In conclusion, I have given you a ton of information, but with this information you should now have a pretty good idea of what piece of software you might need to fix the specific computer problem you are having. I have absolutely no problem giving my %100 recommendation on any of the PC Repair Software that I have mentioned in this article.

In this post, I want to give you some simple but powerful tips that will help you fix computer errors. A lot of us just don’t have the money to be calling out the Geek Squad to fix our computer issues only to have them not fix it right and charge you an arm and a leg in the meantime.

The key to fix computer errors is the steps you take for computer troubleshooting. Over the 15 years of being a computer professional, this is the skill that makes me most successful at fixing computers.

The first thing you need to conclude to fix computer errors is whether the error is being by a problem with hardware or software.

Let’s talk computer hardware of just a bit. Some of the more common hardware issues are things such as computer power supply problems, video cards going bad or even a motherboard getting fried. Any of these are vulnerable if you do not have proper power protection in place. All it takes is for the power to abruptly go out or for a bad thunderstorm to pass through.

Troubleshooting to fix computer errors cause by hardware failure can be a bit tricky, but there are some very simple things you can do. First, you could try re-seating all cables and hardware components in side of your computer. If your computer just won’t start or power on at all, then it is a safe bet that it could the the computer power supply that is bad.The most sure-fire way to test a power supply is to go to your local electronics store and buy a power supply tester.

Hardware issues can also cause computer freezes. It is possible that a computer power supply might not be making quite enough voltage  or maybe the video card in your computer is starting to fail can cause a computer lock up or cause it to blue screen. Don’t fall into the trap that just because your computer freezes or shows any of these symptoms that you instantly rule out hardware as being the source. Sometimes simply taking the hardware component out of your computer and putting it back in can fix computer errors.

In conclusion, if your computer is having problems and you want to fix computer errors, then you should first try to conclude whether the issue is hardware or software based. There are a lot of hardware-based computer problems that can be fixed by re-seating components. This is one of the more basic but very effective troubleshooting steps that one can do.

I hope that these tips and tricks will help you fix computer errors and help you save a few dollars in the meantime! photo credit: DaroczyLaszlo

One of the more common ways that will cause computer failure is a computer power supply is either going bad or is completely dead. The key to this is to make sure you are aware of the some of the more common computer power supply failure symptoms.

The voltage levels on a computer power supply have to remain consistently in the range of 12v. Most standard ATX computer power supplies are designed to meet this standard. If the unit starts to go bad and does not produce enough voltage, then you will start to experience problems.

One of the most common symptoms of a failing computer power supply is that when you turn your computer on, you may actually hear the fans start to spin and you may even see the computer lights on the front of the case light up, but you actually get no video display on your monitor at all.

This could be a case of your power supply not putting out enough voltage to power all of the hardware components in your computer which results in computer failure. If I come across a computer showing these symptoms, I will sometimes take the side of the case off and unplug the power connectors for all components not critical to powering the computer on. So I would unplug things such as: CD-ROMs, floppy drives, hard drives and any other components you may have installed. I would then turn the computer on just to see if I could then get video since there would be more voltage available to power the video card.

Although your computer won’t boot the whole way because you have your hard drive unplugged, you should be able to make the conclusion that if you do now have video that you have a bad power supply.

Super Expert Tips – You Won’t Find These Anywhere Else

• If you have multiple computers or you are %100 sure that your computer power supply might be bad, then either go to your local computer store or go online and buy a computer power supply tester. This is by far the most accurate way to diagnose a bad power supply and also the cause of a potential computer failure.
• Have you ever tried to turn your computer on and it just doesn’t want to boot or maybe it just starts to turn on and turns right back off? I see this a lot of times especially right after the power might go off abruptly for one reason or another. ATTENTION: One thing you can do to fix this is to unplug the power cable from the back of your computer and then hold in the power button for 15 to 20 seconds. Plug the power cable back in and turn on your computer! I have fixed many computers over the years by performing this little trick!

I hope that with these tips and advice that you will be able to properly diagnose a computer failure caused by a bad power supply. The key is to know what symptoms to look out for and how to properly troubleshoot them.

Computer Troubleshooting

In this post, I am going to go over some simple computer troubleshooting tips that everyone who owns a computer should know how to perform. By knowing how to do some basic troubleshooting on your computer, you may be able to save yourself a few hundred dollars because you won’t have to call for computer repair.

Problem: Your Are Dealing With A Slow Computer

The first question I ask someone who is saying their computer is slow is when was the last time they rebooted. I know, you think this is just some standard answer I throw out there. The truth is, is if you were to take a newer computer and leave it running for a month while using it heavily, it is going to perform much slower at the end of that month. However, if you were to reboot your computer at least once a week, that would help to maintain maximum performance.

If you would like to automate or have a program take care of making sure you are getting the best performance out of your computer, then I would recommend a program such as SpeedUpMyPC 2010 from Uniblue. This is by far the most reliable piece of software on the market. It will help with slow computer problems, slow startup and slow boot problems just to name a few. I highly recommend this software.

Problem: Your Computer Is Blue Screening

Another really common issue that computer users will experience is the blue screen of death. There is nothing worse than being in the middle of a big project and your computer freezes which leads to a blue screen of death which finally leads to a full on computer crash. Drivers can be the source of a lot of computer freezes and blue screen of death errors.

Let’s say your computer crashes as a result of Fallout 3 freezes right while your in the middle of playing it. Does your computer meet the minimum requirements of the game? Is this the first and only time this has ever happen, or does your computer crash and restart frequently when playing a particular game? You would need to first make sure that your video card and computer are powerful enough to handle the graphics of your particular game. If they meet the requirements, then you may want to think about updating the drivers for your video game. Drivers are constantly being updated and it can be hard to keep up with all of the latest releases.

If your not real familiar with making sure you have the most up to date drivers for your computer hardware, then I would recommend a program such as DriverScanner 2010. This program is also made by Uniblue and it literally makes keeping your drivers up to date a breeze. It even does some really cool things such as make backups of previous versions so you can roll them back at any time.

I know this is a lot to digest, but I hope you add these simple computer troubleshooting tips to your arsenal. There is no need to have to call for computer repair services every time your computer is having problems. photo credit: Patrick Hoesly

I have seen some viruses such as Windows XP Antivirus 2010 slip by all of the big named anti virus protection such as Norton, Trend or AVG. This virus is one of the most viscous and harmful viruses that I have ever encountered and can cause computer freezes or lock ups almost instantly. If you do not perform the right steps to get rid of it, you may be in line for a full system restore. There have been times even when I have had no choice but to just wipe the hard drive and start fresh.

There tons of legitimate websites being infected with viruses every day. A few years ago, you really only had to watch out for those ‘suspect’ websites. Most of the time, you new you were surfing a site that you shouldn’t have been and the result was you computer getting a virus that caused you a major headache. This isn’t the case now days though. You could be on a totally legitimate website and all of a sudden your machine will instantly slow down, your hard drive will start humming and your computer will be rendered virtually unusable. Although not best practice, if you can recognize this soon enough, it is sometimes  best just to shut your machine off by holding the power button in. This may give you the opportunity to boot into safe mode and clean the virus out since it wasn’t able to fully infect your machine.

It is also best to use a malware/spyware removal software such as Malwarebytes along with your anti virus software. Even though anti virus software is updated daily, it still has problems detecting or removing some elements of more intense viruses. This is were a program such as Malwarebytes or Spybot will come in very handy.

Be sensible and very careful when surfing the web. Don’t ever click on something that you are not %100 sure of. Avoid computer freezes by having a good anti virus software installed, a good spyware/malware removal software and most important good judgment on your part.

Windows XP Freezes

Windows XP Freezes are still alive and well even thought the Microsoft Operating System is nearly 10 years old. By far, XP is the best OS that Microsoft released, but it is far from perfect. If you have a computer with XP on it, then I am sure you have had some issues with it at one time or another.

I can distinctly  remember when Service Pack 2 was released. As an IT Professional, it was an absolute nightmare to get rolled out to computers. It contained huge security enhancements that we have grown to like today, but weren’t too keen on back when they were first introduced. Two major aspects of Windows XP that were introduced were the Windows Security Center which  included the Windows Firewall. Both have turned out to be pretty nice additions to the operating system, but they both caused major headaches at the beginning.

SP2 for XP caused everything from Windows XP Freezes to the dreaded blue screen of death to messing up the installation of XP so bad that a repair or reinstall was needed. Those are weeks and months that I sure am glad are well in the past.

Another big ‘issue’ that is dealt with on a regular basis is that computers that still have Windows XP on them are now getting pretty old and nearing the end of their life cycle. However, a lot of businesses and home users want to make what they have work for them for a few more years because they just don’t have the funds to go out and buy a new computer.

Having a computer that is 4 or 5 years old can present a lot of problems if you haven’t done proper maintenance on it. To prevent Windows XP Freezes, you should be doing things such as:

• Running a windows defrag at least once a month
• Running Disk Cleanup once every 2 weeks
• Running a spyware/malware program such as Malwarebytes every 2 weeks
• Performing monthly registry cleaning/maintenance

The items listed are just some of the more critical things that you should be doing on a regular basis if you still have a computer that as XP on it and you want to make sure you are doing everything you can to prevent windows XP freezes. If your thinking about or planning to upgrade to a new computer in the near future, you may want to read about what I have to say about Windows 7 Freezes. photo credit:Alberto_Montoya